basile.bsky.social
@basile.bsky.social
Reposted by basile.bsky.social
I cannot say in public what I think of this attitude. Nuclear armed powers have lost wars. They *must* lose wars of aggression and imperial conquest; otherwise it means the death of #nuclear non- #proliferation and nukes for all.
Which we have to assume is going to happen now.
Which we have to assume is going to happen now.
No political will.
"But who really believes that Russia will lose in Ukraine? It’s a fable, a complete illusion.
It’s not even desirable for them to lose and for instability to take hold in a country that possesses nuclear weapons."
- Prime minister of Belgium
"But who really believes that Russia will lose in Ukraine? It’s a fable, a complete illusion.
It’s not even desirable for them to lose and for instability to take hold in a country that possesses nuclear weapons."
- Prime minister of Belgium
December 29, 2025 at 11:09 AM
I cannot say in public what I think of this attitude. Nuclear armed powers have lost wars. They *must* lose wars of aggression and imperial conquest; otherwise it means the death of #nuclear non- #proliferation and nukes for all.
Which we have to assume is going to happen now.
Which we have to assume is going to happen now.
Reposted by basile.bsky.social
After more than 10 years of “the Danish Model”, nativism is hegemonic in the country, the far right polls near level highs again, and the Social Democrats lost Copenhagen and poll at historic low.
European Social Democrats should look at the facts, not the myths!
Me in @theguardian.com
European Social Democrats should look at the facts, not the myths!
Me in @theguardian.com
The ‘Danish model’ is the darling of centre-left parties like Labour. The problem is, it doesn’t even work in Denmark | Cas Mudde
This week’s local elections are the latest reminder that when social democrats move rightwards, they’re making a mistake, says academic and author Cas Mudde
www.theguardian.com
November 22, 2025 at 1:59 PM
After more than 10 years of “the Danish Model”, nativism is hegemonic in the country, the far right polls near level highs again, and the Social Democrats lost Copenhagen and poll at historic low.
European Social Democrats should look at the facts, not the myths!
Me in @theguardian.com
European Social Democrats should look at the facts, not the myths!
Me in @theguardian.com
Reposted by basile.bsky.social
🚨🚨🚨 The jury has reached a verdict. Sean Dunn, aka the DC Sandwich Guy, has been found NOT GUILTY of assault.
November 6, 2025 at 7:25 PM
🚨🚨🚨 The jury has reached a verdict. Sean Dunn, aka the DC Sandwich Guy, has been found NOT GUILTY of assault.
Reposted by basile.bsky.social
Who died and made the Pope the head of the Catholic Church?
November 5, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Who died and made the Pope the head of the Catholic Church?
Reposted by basile.bsky.social
decades of bothsidesism, decades of the end of history, "a pincer movement by the illiberal right and the illiberal left," whatever story you want to tell--the need is the same: we need to get our powerful to believe in liberalism as a fighting creed once again
September 6, 2025 at 7:49 PM
decades of bothsidesism, decades of the end of history, "a pincer movement by the illiberal right and the illiberal left," whatever story you want to tell--the need is the same: we need to get our powerful to believe in liberalism as a fighting creed once again
Reposted by basile.bsky.social
The EU-US deal shows the shambles of European foreign policy. You can’t ring-fence the economy from defence – if you are dependent in your security you won’t be autonomous in commerce
Guess the most pressing aim for Brussels is keeping Trump engaged in Ukraine, in some way, at all costs.
In which case, VDL is probably on the flight home thinking: job done.
Quite a jarring spectacle, however, days after presenting a "tough guy" front in Beijing.
In which case, VDL is probably on the flight home thinking: job done.
Quite a jarring spectacle, however, days after presenting a "tough guy" front in Beijing.
July 27, 2025 at 7:58 PM
The EU-US deal shows the shambles of European foreign policy. You can’t ring-fence the economy from defence – if you are dependent in your security you won’t be autonomous in commerce
Reposted by basile.bsky.social
Two ways: gradually, then suddenly
Again, staggering how this has been normalized. "WTO" doesn't even appear in the article. Not a single sentence noting how this is all wildly illegal under both US domestic law & WTO treaty obligations.
Why did the EU succumb? Also this: bsky.app/profile/mcop...
Again, staggering how this has been normalized. "WTO" doesn't even appear in the article. Not a single sentence noting how this is all wildly illegal under both US domestic law & WTO treaty obligations.
Why did the EU succumb? Also this: bsky.app/profile/mcop...
How the EU succumbed to Trump’s tariff steamroller https://on.ft.com/3ILGrKP
How the EU succumbed to Trump’s tariff steamroller
Relief at avoiding trade war is tinged with regret at not taking firmer stand from the start
on.ft.com
July 27, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Two ways: gradually, then suddenly
Again, staggering how this has been normalized. "WTO" doesn't even appear in the article. Not a single sentence noting how this is all wildly illegal under both US domestic law & WTO treaty obligations.
Why did the EU succumb? Also this: bsky.app/profile/mcop...
Again, staggering how this has been normalized. "WTO" doesn't even appear in the article. Not a single sentence noting how this is all wildly illegal under both US domestic law & WTO treaty obligations.
Why did the EU succumb? Also this: bsky.app/profile/mcop...
Reposted by basile.bsky.social
For NYT, historian Anton Jäger warns that Euro rearmament “to fight the twin crises of geopolitical vulnerability and economic malaise” is more like Reaganism than Keynesianism, and Europe’s version promises neither social dividends nor a competitive defense sector.
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/30/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/30/o...
June 30, 2025 at 5:09 PM
For NYT, historian Anton Jäger warns that Euro rearmament “to fight the twin crises of geopolitical vulnerability and economic malaise” is more like Reaganism than Keynesianism, and Europe’s version promises neither social dividends nor a competitive defense sector.
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/30/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/30/o...
Reposted by basile.bsky.social
Has anyone at the NYT ever heard the term “adversarial press?” Journalism is not Stenography For Power
Even by that standard, stenography would be preferable to whatever the NYT is doing. Write the things Trump says and it sounds crazy so you have to sanewash everything.
Even by that standard, stenography would be preferable to whatever the NYT is doing. Write the things Trump says and it sounds crazy so you have to sanewash everything.
May 25, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Has anyone at the NYT ever heard the term “adversarial press?” Journalism is not Stenography For Power
Even by that standard, stenography would be preferable to whatever the NYT is doing. Write the things Trump says and it sounds crazy so you have to sanewash everything.
Even by that standard, stenography would be preferable to whatever the NYT is doing. Write the things Trump says and it sounds crazy so you have to sanewash everything.
Reposted by basile.bsky.social
Cato has published my comprehensive review of the ~240 Venezuelans the US government renditioned 2 months ago to Salvador’s notorious prison. We identified FIFTY who came legally, never violated any immigration law, but are imprisoned at the US government’s request and at US taxpayer expense.
May 19, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Cato has published my comprehensive review of the ~240 Venezuelans the US government renditioned 2 months ago to Salvador’s notorious prison. We identified FIFTY who came legally, never violated any immigration law, but are imprisoned at the US government’s request and at US taxpayer expense.
Hopelijk kan Europa Ukraine voldoende (blijven) steunen, want de VS lijken compleet waardeloos geworden...
US 7-point “peace plan” presented in London:
1 Crimea is 🇷🇺
2 End hostilities at front line
3 🇺🇸 lifts all sanctions against 🇷🇺
4 Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant will be transferred to 🇺🇸. 🇺🇸 begins energy cooperation with 🇷🇺
5 No sec guarantees from 🇺🇸
6 🇺🇦 will not join NATO
7 Minerals deal to be signed
1 Crimea is 🇷🇺
2 End hostilities at front line
3 🇺🇸 lifts all sanctions against 🇷🇺
4 Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant will be transferred to 🇺🇸. 🇺🇸 begins energy cooperation with 🇷🇺
5 No sec guarantees from 🇺🇸
6 🇺🇦 will not join NATO
7 Minerals deal to be signed
April 23, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Hopelijk kan Europa Ukraine voldoende (blijven) steunen, want de VS lijken compleet waardeloos geworden...
Reposted by basile.bsky.social
#OpenDNS Quits Belgium Under Threat of Piracy Blocks or Fines of €100K Per Day - torrentfreak.com/opendns-quit... selfish #copyright companies are destroying the #Internet's infrastructure in their stupid, unwinnable war on sharing
OpenDNS Quits Belgium Under Threat of Piracy Blocks or Fines of €100K Per Day * TorrentFreak
Cisco has suspended its OpenDNS service in Belgium due to a court order, most likely a piracy blocking order with €100K per day fines attached.
torrentfreak.com
April 16, 2025 at 7:39 AM
#OpenDNS Quits Belgium Under Threat of Piracy Blocks or Fines of €100K Per Day - torrentfreak.com/opendns-quit... selfish #copyright companies are destroying the #Internet's infrastructure in their stupid, unwinnable war on sharing
Reposted by basile.bsky.social
Trump is now officially worse than COVID.
April 5, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Trump is now officially worse than COVID.
Reposted by basile.bsky.social
#Bluesky has set up its EU headquarters in #Belgium, putting the country’s telecom regulator in charge of the platform’s compliance with the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) and its DPA for GDPR
www.euronews.com/next/2025/03...
www.euronews.com/next/2025/03...
Bluesky finally found in Belgium
Any Digital Services Act questions will go to the Belgian telecom regulator as Bluesky established its legal headquarters in the country.
www.euronews.com
March 13, 2025 at 5:04 PM
#Bluesky has set up its EU headquarters in #Belgium, putting the country’s telecom regulator in charge of the platform’s compliance with the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) and its DPA for GDPR
www.euronews.com/next/2025/03...
www.euronews.com/next/2025/03...
Reposted by basile.bsky.social
We deeply regret the US tariffs imposed on Europe.
Tariffs are taxes.
They are bad for business, and even worse for consumers.
Today Europe takes strong but proportionate countermeasures.
We remain ready to engage in dialogue ↓
Tariffs are taxes.
They are bad for business, and even worse for consumers.
Today Europe takes strong but proportionate countermeasures.
We remain ready to engage in dialogue ↓
March 12, 2025 at 7:34 AM
We deeply regret the US tariffs imposed on Europe.
Tariffs are taxes.
They are bad for business, and even worse for consumers.
Today Europe takes strong but proportionate countermeasures.
We remain ready to engage in dialogue ↓
Tariffs are taxes.
They are bad for business, and even worse for consumers.
Today Europe takes strong but proportionate countermeasures.
We remain ready to engage in dialogue ↓
Reposted by basile.bsky.social
I can't, for the life of me, figure out what is complicated or contradictory about Trump. He is an authoritarian who believes laws & institutions do not apply to him. He's wildly corrupt. He's a mercantilist. He's a racist xenophobe. He's a misogynist. And he's been all of these things for years.
👇🎯 Object lesson in how The Narrative™️ that cannot fail (it can only be failed) gets started & spreads. This is obvious nonsense, bc he's been at the center of 🇺🇸 politics for a decade & the lawless authoritarianism & corruption & total lack of serious substance is quite obviously not complicated.
I think this piece makes too much of Trump’s supposed “contradictions.” For example, it is not a contradiction but the very essence of his politics that “law and order” applies to his opponents but not to him or his supporters.
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/08/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/08/u...
March 8, 2025 at 7:27 PM
I can't, for the life of me, figure out what is complicated or contradictory about Trump. He is an authoritarian who believes laws & institutions do not apply to him. He's wildly corrupt. He's a mercantilist. He's a racist xenophobe. He's a misogynist. And he's been all of these things for years.
Reposted by basile.bsky.social
Morning Bluesky.
BIG news from Europe after Trump’s pointless hot air last night: the EU leaders will tomorrow consider a 9-point action plan to:
* strip Hungary of its voting rights
* appoint Kaja Kallas as the EU’s full-fledged foreign minister
* create a joint European Army
BIG news from Europe after Trump’s pointless hot air last night: the EU leaders will tomorrow consider a 9-point action plan to:
* strip Hungary of its voting rights
* appoint Kaja Kallas as the EU’s full-fledged foreign minister
* create a joint European Army
March 5, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Morning Bluesky.
BIG news from Europe after Trump’s pointless hot air last night: the EU leaders will tomorrow consider a 9-point action plan to:
* strip Hungary of its voting rights
* appoint Kaja Kallas as the EU’s full-fledged foreign minister
* create a joint European Army
BIG news from Europe after Trump’s pointless hot air last night: the EU leaders will tomorrow consider a 9-point action plan to:
* strip Hungary of its voting rights
* appoint Kaja Kallas as the EU’s full-fledged foreign minister
* create a joint European Army
Reposted by basile.bsky.social
👇🎯💯 Yes, this is the only way 🇪🇺 can finance these things, or challenge the dollar. Anyone who tells you otherwise is fantasizing about 🇩🇪/🇪🇺 tolerance for national-level debt or pretending that 🇩🇪/🇪🇺 can achieve these goals without major economic policy change.
bsky.app/profile/mcop...
bsky.app/profile/mcop...
Well, as America implodes from within, it’d be a *great* time for the EU to finally do official Eurobonds. It’d likely be very attractive as a safe haven given the destruction of US hegemony & spillover to US T-bills. Bonus: Eurobonds can finance a desperately needed European security build up! 🇪🇺💶 ‼️
February 28, 2025 at 9:29 PM
👇🎯💯 Yes, this is the only way 🇪🇺 can finance these things, or challenge the dollar. Anyone who tells you otherwise is fantasizing about 🇩🇪/🇪🇺 tolerance for national-level debt or pretending that 🇩🇪/🇪🇺 can achieve these goals without major economic policy change.
bsky.app/profile/mcop...
bsky.app/profile/mcop...
Reposted by basile.bsky.social
EU foreign policy chief:
“.. Today, it became clear that the free world needs a new leader.”
@kajakallas.bsky.social
“.. Today, it became clear that the free world needs a new leader.”
@kajakallas.bsky.social
February 28, 2025 at 8:57 PM
EU foreign policy chief:
“.. Today, it became clear that the free world needs a new leader.”
@kajakallas.bsky.social
“.. Today, it became clear that the free world needs a new leader.”
@kajakallas.bsky.social
Reposted by basile.bsky.social
It’s nice how they’ve replicated the middle school dynamic of the insecure bully and his sniveling sidekick picking on someone surrounded by a circle of scared little boys who also try to talk shit so the bully doesn’t come after them.
Or as the right calls it, “masculinity.”
Or as the right calls it, “masculinity.”
GLENN: Why don't you wear a suit? You're at the highest level in this country's office & you refuse to wear a suit. A lot of Americans have problems with you not respecting the office.
ZELENSKYY: I will wear a costume after this war will finish. Maybe something like yours. Maybe something better.
ZELENSKYY: I will wear a costume after this war will finish. Maybe something like yours. Maybe something better.
February 28, 2025 at 6:36 PM
It’s nice how they’ve replicated the middle school dynamic of the insecure bully and his sniveling sidekick picking on someone surrounded by a circle of scared little boys who also try to talk shit so the bully doesn’t come after them.
Or as the right calls it, “masculinity.”
Or as the right calls it, “masculinity.”
Reposted by basile.bsky.social
As It Should Be
Or, put another way...
I, for one, enjoy that Germany invented an electoral system which makes all the election drama about fringe minor parties
I, for one, enjoy that Germany invented an electoral system which makes all the election drama about fringe minor parties
February 23, 2025 at 6:17 PM
As It Should Be
Reposted by basile.bsky.social
Reposted by basile.bsky.social
Again, the entire post-WWII system of delegation rested on the norm that both parties rejected fascism. We can’t go back to 19th century governance, no matter how much the FedSoc wants to. But we also can’t allow an untethered imperial presidency anymore. We’re seeing the end stage of that now.
This system was never intended to work if fascists came to power. The only solution now is for Congress to reassert its constitutional supremacy over the executive by reclaiming these powers. But the problem, of course, is that this requires a few of the fascist party to break w/ their co-partisans.
February 22, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Again, the entire post-WWII system of delegation rested on the norm that both parties rejected fascism. We can’t go back to 19th century governance, no matter how much the FedSoc wants to. But we also can’t allow an untethered imperial presidency anymore. We’re seeing the end stage of that now.